i think he's referring to a controversy where allegedly senator dodd received special treatment on their mortgages. they denied there was any special consideration on the mortgage rates they received. there was a lot of controversy. regardless, it was on a mortgage she was paying for. host: the house is just about to begin. they take up legislation looking at dodd-frank today. guest: they do. i believe it is just one bill was that a few changes. host: we'll find out more as we go to the house of representatives. rder. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c. july 21, 2011.

i hereby appoint the honorable rick crawford to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 5, 2011, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to five minutes. each but in no event shall debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from new york, mr. rangel, for five minutes. mr. rangel: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. rangel: good morning, my colleagues. like most of you i have taken so many things around this

wonderful capitol for granted, and this beautiful statement, in god we trust, unfortunately for me as han one of them. it has not really struck me like the pledge of allegiance to the flag or the "star spangled banner," or so many other things, but i think that now is the time that we really need god to guide us to do the right and the moral thing. and the reason we have to do it because we are dealing with something that is basic to all religious and faiths and that is our responsibility to make certain that we balance our budget, do what is fiscally necessary for our great nation to survive. but also to do it in such a way that the poor and the vulnerable who have nothing to do with the crisis that we

face, are not hurt. so i guess this is what we are talking about when we say, in god we trust. but god works through us. we are the tools. we have the responsibility of the missionaries. we don't have lobbyists that comes down and to say to protect those people. and i guess this is one of the reasons why this saying here is a constant reminder to us that even though we carry away our ability to create statutes that we respect our court system and the supreme court. but in the final analysis it's the higher authority of morality that should be guiding all of us. recently i called upon religious leaders to help us in this guidance, to make the right decisions.

christians, catholic, protestants, muslims, mormons, jews, and gentiles. i was so pleased that a long and dear friend named jim wallace, he's a lutheran pastor, was an advisor to the president, and just yesterday he brought in a group of ministers to help the president to make the moral decision as he struggles so hard to make the proper decision as it affects our budget and how we are going to reduce our deficit. but the things that he had cited like matthews, truly i tell you whatever you did for me that you did for me, the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you did for me. what it is is that whatever you have done to assist a poor

person, or those who are not as strong physically and financially as you and i, that you really did this in a sense for jesus because you have done the right thing. and then he goes on to have something that sounds like statutes when it says, woe to those who fact unjust statutes and who write oppressive decrees. oppressive decrees. depriving the needy of judgment and robbing poor people of their rights. is health care a right? is social security a right? is decent housing, education, the pursuit of happiness, is all of this a right? and does this permeate the entire budget and every decision we are trying to make? well, in these statements that he made, we have the torah that says the same thing. if there's a poor man among

your brothers in any towns we have a responsibility. the koran indicates believe in now and the messengers and spend on charity. so my brothers and sisters, it seems to me that now is the time for us to really get in touch with the gang of six because it seems like nobody in the house of representatives have any clue as to what ultimately the president and his advisors will decide. certainly the senate doesn't know what we will decide. but somehow we should include not just the question of revenue. not just the question of trillions of dollars to be cut, but in the course of these negotiations, to think of the lesser of our brothers and sisters, remember that it's a part of our very lives and saying in god we trust, and to know that you just can't cut services without losing jobs.

in other words, when you have people who are jobless, homeless, who lost their savings, these are god's children. and they need hope for the future. so thank you for once again giving me this opportunity. and who -- what words could better express what i have been trying to say, and that is, mr. speaker, in god we trust. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. jones, for five minutes. mr. jones: mr. speaker, thank you very much. on tuesday the house passed h.r. 2560, the cut, cap, and balance bill. i was amazed by the $120 billion approved to fund the war on terror. i, like many of my colleagues, agree that we must continue to fight terrorism, but i do not understand why we are funding the civil war in afghanistan. i do not understand why members of congress want to spend $10 billion a month in afghanistan when our people back home are struggling. i can assure you the american

people do not understand it, either. in june, a poll was conducted by the pew research center where 56% of the american people polled said bring our troops home now. not later. mr. speaker, i brought back the picture of edy and stephanie. their father and lieutenant colonel palmer, died, and that continues to haunt me. and the way they died continues to haunt me. that's the reason i wanted to bring this picture down here again. they were given the task to train afghans to be policemen. the two were shot and murdered by one of the trainees. what really haunts me is the email sergeant baldwin sent to his wife the day before he was shot and killed. i quote the email, i don't trust them. i don't trust them. for anything.

not for anything at all. why in the world do we continue to send our young men and women overseas to get theirselves blown up, shot, and murdered by people they are trying to train? these little girls are standing at their daddy's funeral at arlington cemetery. mr. speaker, that brings me to the last email i received from a retired general, marine general. i called him about 20 months ago and i said, i made a mistake on iraq. i don't want to make one on afghanistan. will you advise me. he said, yes, i will. let me read the one that just ties into this issue of this sergeant and this marine murdered by a trainee in afghanistan. he said, and i quote the general, get real with training and army and police force. all we are doing is training eventual new members of the taliban. he further stated, trainers are doing a wonderful job but we don't have the time to make an army or police force in

afghanistan. the general closed his email to me by saying this, every day someone dies. every day someone dies. it is time to bring our troopings home from -- troops home from afghanistan. how many more children have to cry in a mom or dad's grave site because their mother or daddy went to afghanistan to prop up a corrupt leader named karzai that we send $10 billion a month to? i hope no other children have to cry like edy and stephanie. that brings me to my close, mr. speaker. several weeks oak eugene robertson in his editorial titled "afghanistan strategy, let's go." we wanted to kill or capture osama bin laden, and we did. even so, say the hawks, we have to stay in afghanistan because of the dangerous instability across the border in nuclear

armed pakistan. but does anyone believe the war in afghanistan has made pakistan more safe? no, it has not. in fact, it's more fragile now than it's ever been. the threat from afghanistan is gone. bring the troops home. eugene robertson is not a conservative. we see him on tv all the time. and i will say that he nailed it with this editorial. the threat from afghanistan is gone, bring him home. mr. speaker, as i close always on the floor of the house, for these little girls, who have lost their father, and all the children who have lost their fathers and moms over in afghanistan and iraq, i ask god to please bless our men and women in uniform. i ask god to please bless the families of our men and women in uniform. i ask god in his loving arms to hold the families who have given a child dying for freedom in afghanistan and iraq. i ask god to please bless the house and senate we will do what is right in the eyes of god for his people.

i ask god to give strength, wisdom, and courage to mr. obama he will do what is right in the eyes of god for his people. and i'll say three times, god please. god please, god please continue to bless america. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: thank you. the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. defazio, for five minutes. mr. defazio: colleagues, we are truly through the looking class here into a strange world. the gang of six has supposedly met the president's requirements that we would have $3 billion in cuts and $1 billion in revenue. but actually they are cutting taxes. how does that work? well, that only works inside the washington, d.c. beltway. when you reduce revenues you'll increase revenues because you pretend you wouldn't have had those revenues otherwise.

a little bit complicated, isn't it? it is incredibly complicated. a lot of smoke and mirrors here. there's a simple way to deal with this crisis. we need to rein in spending. we also need to make investments that will put people to work. the republicans don't think the government can invest in anything that puts people to work. except they haven't noticed that we have a infrastructure that's falling apart. we have 20% unemployment in construction and related fields. if we were to begin to invest and rebuild america's infrastructure, all private sector jobs, put those people to work, they start paying taxes, then part of the deficit goes away. and the money was spent on something that will benefit this generation and future generations. no, they categorize all federal spending the same. they just want to slash it all. how about a plan that targets investment, putting people back to work, that reduces spending

appropriately across the government. and actually pays for all of this with revenues? how could you do that? simple. let the bush tax cuts expire. let all the bush tax cuts expire. that's $4 trillion. it's not too complicated. it would take us back to those bad old clinton years when rich people paid taxes. and the job creators, they call them, you can't make the job creators pay taxes. it will ruin the economy. that's what they said when clinton raised the taxes back in the 1990's. guess what? wended up with 3.8% unemployment. -- we ended up with 3.8% unemployment and balanced the budget and paid down debt. but yet the wealthy and all americans carried a fair share of that burden. i'd love to go back to those bad old days. we have been now for a decade living under the theory that reducing taxes creates jobs. especially reducing taxes on

billionaires. the job creators. creates jobs. not working too well, is it? nope, it's really not working at all. but the obama administration and the gang of six have apparently bought into this flimflam. let's continue the bush tax cuts. let's continue the stupid social security tax holiday that hasn't created a single job. sure, there are a lot of american families that can use an extra 20 bucks a week, but their spending 20 bucks a week doesn't create jobs. now obama wants to give employers 20 bucks a week on each employee, saying they'll go out and hire millions. corporations are sitting on trillion dollars in cash, trillions of dollars. they don't need more cash. for 20 bucks a week they are not going to hire anybody. . here's the plan. let the bush tax cuts expire. that's $4 trillion wetch didn't cut social security, we didn't cut medicare, we didn't cut

student financial aid but we are $4 trillion. then cancel the stupid social security tax holiday. but still borrow the money. we're borrowing money to give people the social security tax holiday. stop reducing the income of social security, go back to the statutory rate of taxes and guarantee the benefits for people and borrow instead that $110 billion to rebuild america's infrastructure. $$110 billion, that's about $4 -- that's about 4.7 million jobs. not just construction jobs, engineering jobs, small business jobs, manufacturing jobs, all across the country. put america back to work. that would reduce the deficit by about another 25%. so if we cancel the bush tax cuts, $4 trillion, ok, we're now at the president's big deal target, which we're not going to meet under the gang of six or any of the other constructs around here, cancel the social

security tax holiday, borrow the money one more year, invest it in infrastructure, put millions to work, when those millions go to work, they'll be paying taxes, that'll reduce the deficit by about another quarter. we solved 3/4 of the problem without killing programs essential to the american people and without cutting taxes on the job creators. the gang of six is proposing that billionaires should see their taxes cut by about 25% or 30% that will help us balance the budget. time to get back to the real world and out of "alice in wonderland." the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson, for five minutes. mr. tompson: thank you, mr. speaker. since 1947, every august, the little league baseball world series is held in pennsylvania within pennsylvania's fifth

congressional district. each year, little league international recognizes little league graduates who have become outstanding citizens and role models as adults for induction into the little league hall of excellence. among previous inductees, vice president joe biden in 2009, general peter pace in 2003, and former new york mayor rudy giuliani in 2002. this year's ceremony will prove to be extra special. for 2011 little league international plans to enshrine the first ever little league graduate to receive the medal of honor. that person is army private first class ross mcginnis he played second base in outfield for six years, he's a graduate of little league in knox, pennsylvania, in the fifth district. in 2006, he heroically gave his life to save four others from a grenade blast inside a humvee

in operations in iraqi freedom. in 2008, he was awarded thed me oofl honor posthumously for his heroic actions. i quote from president george bush in a selfless act of bravery in which he was mortally wounded, private mcginnis covered the live grenade, pinning it between his body and the vehicle and absorbing most of the explosion. the official citation read, which was awarded by president george bush. mcginnis' mother says baseball taught her son teamwork and a commitment to achieving common goals. today, because of mcginnis' sacrifice and commitment to others, four men live on to enjoy their families and their futures. congratulations to you, ross andrew mcginnis, may you rest in peace. thank you, little league international for recognizing his achievements. to the mcginnis family, we

recognize your son. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from ohio, ms. kaptur, for five minutes. ms. kaptur: mr. speaker, you know, almost no one in washington is talking about jobs. for two months now, both chambers of the congress have been locked down talking about the debt ceiling. meanwhile, if you look back at the bush years, america lost over eight million jobs in the largest recession since the great depression and we've only gotten back about two million. two million. creating jobs at about 120,000 per month that is far from where we need to head. but rather than this congress engaging in intelligent dialogue on how to create jobs, we keep going down these side roads to nowhere. to no with. -- to nowhere. meanwhile, unemployment went up another 10,000 jobs.

every member in both chambers will be judged on not doing the work the people want us to do. and that is to focus on how to use the power of the federal government to create squobs. if you take a look at what the republican majority in the house wants to do, they want to cut unemployment benefits. that's not even understandable to any rational person. they want to cut food. i invite any one of home to come to my district, come and stand in the food line and see how it feels. better yet, help us pack some of the bags and distribute them an give them to veterans who are coming home from the wars who don't have jobs. then ask yourself, what are you really doing here? what are you doing here? what about health benefits? for people who have fallen out of work and they don't have any more health benefits for their

family. why should we cut there? you know, there are some who like to proudly proclaim they're pro-life. pro-life doesn't only involve the period before a child is born. it involves the entire life of a person, of a human being, until natural death. i think the fol soft call question our members ought to be asking themselves about helping the american people at this point, this critical point in our history, now, all of us want to produce balanced budgets. when you have full employment, you get balanced budgets and you get extra and can pay down long-term debt you don't hear anything up here being talked about jobs. if it were happening, we'd have more job creation. we have less job creation. more people are going on unemployment benefits so the

conversation is totally offbase. let's just look at one sector where america and the federal government could save a lot of money. america as a country spends over $250 billion a year on prescription drugs. and nearly 1/3 of that is paid for by the federal government, which mean ours people paying taxes when they work. let's look at that pharmaceutical industry. now, some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are saying cut social security, cut medicare. they don't talk about trimming the excess profits of the pharmaceutical companies. and you know what? they're not paying their fair share into the federal till. let's just look at one bag of heparin in a hospital for which medicare ends up paying over $600. $600. millions and millions of dollars a year for a product a blood thinner that's been off-patent for years.

the ingredients are made in china, not even made here. do you realize how much money a couple of companies are making off selling that one product. celebrex for treating arthritis, we're paying $148 a month. for lipitor, for those trying to lower cholesterol, $122 a month. if you take a look at the profits of pfizer, pfizer made $837b9 billion in profits and its c.e.o. made $25 million last year, just in what he's willing to admit. johnson & johnson made $3.3 billion in profits while their c.e.o. walked away with $29 million. other big drugmakers like abbott lans, $4.3 billion. these are with b's, not with m's, these are billions, not millions. federal government is just forking over all the time. and federal government is the pharmaceutical industry's biggest customer in the

industry and the industry knows it. why doesn't the federal government wruse its purchasing power to get better bids on these drugs and have competitive bidding in order to purchase? we did that back in the 1990's. we haven't done it since. there's plenty of ways to get the funds to try to balance the budget but the most important way to balance the budget is to help americans get back to work. mr. speaker, i yield back my remaining time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from minnesota, mr. paulson, for five minutes. mr. paulsen: mr. speaker, i come to the floor of the house to honor and remember an american hero, lance corporal robert greeninger, who died last week after an i.e.d. attack in afghanistan. as we grieve the lots of one of our finest citizens and share

the grief with his family, we marvel that such heros have lived among us. he gave up everything to protect his neighbors and extend the blessings of freedom to those who have never known it. he was proud to serve his country. in honor of him, we need to thank our service men and women and pray every day for their safe return. we monitor the service and memory of the lance corporal and follow his example of patriotic duty, honor and sacrifice in our daily walk as americans. semper fi, lance corporal. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. mcclintock, for five minutes. mr. mcclintock: thank you, mr. speaker. on june 26, the roadside bomb in iraq claimed the life of a young man from orville, california, army staff sergeant russell jeremiah procter, age

25, on his third tour of combat duty. he was laid to rest last week in silent ceremonies in california. sergeant procter leaves behind a grieving widow a devastated family and a 9-month-old son who will know his father only by reputation. and it is reputation i want to speak of today. i never met sergeant procter, i, too, know him only by reputation. it's a reputation commemorated by, amok other decorations, two army commendation medals, two army achievement medals, two army good conducted me thearblings national defense service medal, the iraqi combat -- campaign medal with bronze service star, two overseas service ribbons, a combat action badge, the bronze star and the purple heart. it's a reputation memorialized by those who knew him best, the men who served with.

he was a leader among leaders, said one. his drive to be the best motivated all of us to reach our potential. another said, he led from the front. he inspired everyone around him to better themselves. perhaps the most poignant was this simple post on a local newspaper site. my son was killed with sergeant procter. private first class dylan johnson and the rest of the soldiers in the unit all looked up to russell for leadership and guidance. they are both heros to me as well. it's signed, a grieving dad. i had the honor to speak last week with sergeant procter's widow. she's also active duty army. they met while serving at fort hood. she was deployed at the same forward operating base as russell. they were bill letted together, she was nearby when he was killed. i cannot begin to imagine the hell that she has been through.

yet having endured all this, she plans to continue her service to our country in the u.s. army. mr. speaker, james mitch for the's question thunders down -- james michener's question thunders down upon us at times like this, where do we get such people? as i spoke with his wife sola, i was struck by the transcendent that accompanies her grief. perhaps the better question is what would we do without people like sernlt procter or the nine generation pross preceded him in the defense of our nation. general patton is right when he said it is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died, rather we should thank god that such men lived. so, mr. speaker, i arise today for exactly that purpose to thank god that russell procter lived. and to pray that his infant son ezekiel grows up in a nation

made safer by his sacrifice and a nation that will never forget, not only what we owe to those who lincoln called the loved and lost, but what we owe to the families who so personally bear that loss. the chaplain who brought the dread news to the family wrote a commentary over the fourth of july weekend a week filled with barbecues and picnics and fireworks in which he noted the grief of this family amidst all the frivolity around them. and he noted that at age 25, russell procter will never again celebrate a birthday, take his son fishing, or hug his wife. sergeant russell procter and all those who preceded him since the first shots on lexington green believed enough in our country and what it stands for to sacrifice all those precious years of love and life and joy so that we,

their fellow americans, could enjoy those same blessings of liberty and safety and security , including a baby boy named ezekiel, whose dad won't be there to take him fishing or hug him or celebrate birthdays with him. ezekiel, if you should someday stumble upon these words, i hope you'll know that like you, many of us knew your dad only by reputation. and we stood in awe of him. . i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from michigan, mr. clarke, for five minutes. mr. clarke: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. clarke: thank you, mr. speaker. today i'm asking this house and this congress to cut the debt

that's truly crushing the american people right now. the debt that americans and american families have to pay month after month, year after year without any help from anyone else. it's a direct burden on our people. i'm not talking about the federal debt. i'm talking about the debt that americans must pay on their mortgages and on their student loans. so today i'm offering a resolution to strongly urge this body that as we work to prevent the government from defaulting on its obligations, that we do the same thing to help the american people that with equal intensity and drive and commitment we work to help americans free themselves of debt. now, if we help the american people reduce their debt burden, that's going to help our families be more

financially secure. now, yes, jobs are important. i represent metro detroit. a region that has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. but you know what? i know folks that are working, that have jobs, but they don't have any money because all of their income is going to pay off creditors. creditors. that's outrageous. and a couple days ago i made a big issue to the american people about not borrowing and handling their money responsibly. the reason why i said that is because many of us think that being in debt is the american way. it's not. this country was founded on the principles based on the preamble of the declaration of independence, that we all have a god-given right to life, liberty, to the pursuit of happiness. but who can be free when you are drowning in debt? so i'm urging this congress,

cut the mortgages. forgive the student loans. that will help american families be secure. but also this. by reducing that debt burden, that americans have to directly pay, that will create more jobs. because that will free up money that americans are earning for themselves so instead of spending it on creditors, they can save that money, they can invest it, they can spend it responsibly on businesses who in turn will hire more people. that's how you create jobs in a sustainable way. it's by helping americans get out of debt. yes, americans have a responsibility to manage their own finances. but so does congress have the duty to help americans get out of the debt that this body over years helped put people into debt. by changing the laws, by allowing lenders to loan money under terms and target certain

people with the sole objective to put the american public into debt, into a debt that they can't repay or will take them a lifetime to free themselves of? we have that responsibility and that obligation. i'm going to close because the underlying point i'm trying to make is this. yes, the federal government is important. how the federal government manages its money is important. this debt is critical that we manage it properly. we have to avoid default because of the government goes into default, everyone's interest rates on their loans are going to go up. that could force people to bankruptcy. force folks into foreclosure. and ruin property values for everyone else. just so you know property values have been ruined because of foreclosure. if we help homeowners stay in their homes by modifying their loans, that's going to save the property values of other homeowners who never missed a

payment because you are the same homeowners right now that can't sell your home. to pay off your mortgage. you can't retire. you are depending on selling your home to pay off your mortgage, but you can't do it because your other neighbors are so under water they had to walk away from their homes or had to be evicted because of foreclosure. so by helping families reduce their debt, that helps all of us in america. it helps our american economy. you see, this country is a great country. our economy has been a strong one. not necessarily because of government, but because of the american people. so you know what, folks? if we want this economy to rebound, let's make sure that americans are financially secure. and one of the most effective ways to do that is to free americans from mortgage and student loan debt. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr.

westmoreland, for five minutes. mr. westmoreland: thank you, mr. speaker. as an elected member of congress, i have the honor to serve and represent people of the third district of georgia through my voting record and through participation in the lawmaking process. georgia's sheriff, james d. stewart, represented his community through selfless service to his county, his deputy, and the thousands of citizens who elected him to the four terms to be their protector. i come before the house today with a heavy heart to honor the nearly 40 years of law enforcement service that was brought to a premature end on july 3 when sheriff stewart was killed in an automobile accident while on his daily patrol. i hope that the one day my staff and my friends will talk about me the same way they did

stewart, co-workers, and friends at his funeral. he was the kind of man who always led from the front. even though he was the head of the department, it would often be his voice that came across the radio responding to calls no matter what time of day or night. he would rather put his life on the line than let anyone else cover for him. a man who valued his duty more than his sleep. sheriff stewart really gave his personal cell number to anyone readily and made sure that everyone knew he was available to them 24/7. that set him apart and contributed to his reputation as a man who really cared about the people of spaulding county. chief deputy major theresa bishop called sheriff stewart the greatest boss ever after 29 years of working together. he trusted his deputies to do their job and expected them to be accountable, too.

his humor made his employees look forward to each workday, but he took his responsibility very seriously, especially when it came to the safety of children and the elderly. sheriff stewart is remembered as having a huge heart. a heart as big as spaulding county. in a testament to the number of lives touched by sheriff stewart's service, his funeral procession took nearly 20 minutes to pass by. i stand here on behalf of his wife, his children, his 11 grandchildren, and everyone who knew james d. stewart as more than just a sheriff but as a preacher, marriage counselor, and a friend, a father, and a husband. the bible says blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of god. and sheriff stewart embodied

that verse. thank you for your service, sheriff. the people of spaulding county lost a great man on july 3, but your memory will live on. many others will be inspired by your example to live justly and with kindness. you will be missed. see you later, d. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer, for five minutes. mr. hoyer: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hoyer: mr. speaker, ladies and gentlemen of this house, i am pleased to rise with my colleague and dear friend, barbara lee, to focus on an issue that all too frequently is ignored. i rise to speak as we are engaged in an extraordinarily important discussion, debate,

and responsibility. that responsibility is to ensure that america pays its bills. that america's creditworthiness is not put at risk. that america which has incurred obligations meets those obligations. to individuals and to others. as we have made policies which have cost money and it is now necessary first to pay the bills that we have already incurred. but as we engage in that debate and discussion, we must remember that there are in our country one child out of every five who is living in poverty. who is worried about proper food. proper housing, proper medical

care. children who are in fact at risk. we now in america the richest nation on the face of the earth have the largest number of people living in poverty that we have had in over seven decades. and so as we engage in this gate, -- debate, it is important that we take this time to focus on those who all too often are invisible. who all too often are not the center of our discussion. who all too often are perceived to simply be those who will not matter at the voting booth. each of us in this house has a compass formed in many respects

by our faiths. my faith teaches me that i have a responsibility to my god to reach out to the least among us to lift them up. to care for this many. to clothe this many. to feed them. to house them. to make sure that as a part of our american family they are not forgotten. they are not by negligence driven more deeply into despair , on health, sickness, and a negative lifestyle. which costs us all. and costs those individuals.

i come from the state of maryland. and i work with somebody you think may be unusual for me to quote, but i was elected to the state senate in 1966. ing a knew was elected governor. and he was sworn in two weeks after i was sworn in. and in his inaugural address he said this, that the cost of failure far exceeds the price of progress. and what he meant by that, the failure to invest in the welfare of our people as well as our infrastructure and the creation of jobs and the expansion of opportunity for our people, the failure to make those investments would in the long run cost us far more. than the investments would cost

us in the short run. my colleagues, i suggest to you that our failure to invest in the welfare of all of our citizens will cost us far greater sums in the long run. for the failure to invest in the short run. so i congratulate barbara lee from california for making sure that the least of us are not forgotten. in this very important debate. do we need to bring down spending? we do. . but one of the interesting facets of every report that's been issued in a bipartisan way, most recently by the so-called gang of six, or the simpson-bowles commission, or the senator deed me chee

commission, the central premise was do not take action that undermines the most vulnerable among us. those were all bipartisan commissions. i know my friends on the republican side of the aisle who pride themselves on being the party of lincoln understand lincoln's message of healing, of bringing us together, of making sure that we lifted up our fellow citizens and cared for the sick and for the homeless, for the young, and yes, for the old. so i, as i said, i thank chairwoman lee, such an extraordinarily courageous and powerful voice on behalf of those who sometimes have no voice. i am pleased to join my voice to hers and hopefully to all 435 of us who have been given

the privilege of serving in this body to raise our voices on this day on behalf of a nation that has been perceived around the world as being a nation of hope, of opportunity, of heart, and of soul. let us reflect that in whatever way we go forward in ensure -- in ensuring the fiscal health of our nation both in the short-term and in the long-term and understand that the health of our people, physically, mentally, financially, will be equally important to the health of our nation. and i thank the gentlelady for leading this debate and i yield back the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. canseco, for five minutes. mr. canseco: i rise -- i request unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. canseco: mr. speaker, if one were to ask the average american what their top three priorities for the congress to work on would be, i think you would get the answer of jobs, jobs, and more jobs. that's the answer because the employment situation in america is not good. over 14 million americans are out of work. we've had 29 straight months with the unemployment rate at 8% or higher and monthly jobs reports that show anemic job growth. clearly, we need to turn our economy around so that robust job creation can occur.

the american people want and expect nothing less. much of why our economy is not creating jobs is because of uncertainty in the economy that has been created by policies passed by washington like the government takeover of health care. the credit restricting financial regulation bill. and the out of control spending. we tried it the way desired by president obama and washington liberals, i a -- attempting to spend and borrow our way to a better economy and their bills, all they did, was add to the debt that is dragging the economy down. worse, though, is that washington is ignoring three very easy actions that have take -- that if taken will immediately help our economy. there are three pending free trade agreements with colombia, panama, and south korea that will create jobs and are at no cost to the taxpayer.

all together it's estimated by the business round table that these three agreements will create 250,000 jobs. how can we not pass these agreements that will create jobs and not cost the taxpayers? today i want to talk about the benefits of the panama free trade agreement. in 2010, u.s. exports to panama accounted for $6.1 billion, creating $5.7 billion in trade surpluses with panama. the united states is panama's largest trading partner and once the agreement goes into the -- go into effect, 88% of u.s. products will go into panama duty-free. what exports will benefit from this? our top exports are aircraft mark sheenry and agricultural

products. in the 23rd district of texas, which i have the privilege of representing in the united states house of representatives, agriculture is an important source of economic activity. the panama free trade agreement will help agricultural products in my district and those districts across the united states. this agreement is helping level the playing field for american agricultural producers. in 2009, the u.s. exported $362 million in agricultural exports to panama. less than 40% of those exports received duty-free status while more than 99% of panama's agricultural exports to the united states receive duty-free status. upon implementation of the agreement, 56% of u.s. agricultural exports will enter panama duty-free and the remaining tabs will phase out within 15 years.

although there are benefits to passing this agreement, there are consequences to failing to pass it. american jobs are at stake as our competitors, notably canada and the european union, have their own trade deals with panama. once these deals are implemented, their exports will have an advantage over u.s. exports going into a panama. this will lead to a loss of market share for united states exporters and a los of jobs here at home. mr. speaker, we have the ability to create jobs without spending taxpayer money. with over $14 million americans unemployed, we must stop waiting. it's time to pass the panama free trade agreement. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california, ms. lee, for five minutes. ms. lee: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend and submit extraneous material for the

record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. lee: i rise today as founding co-chair of the congressional out of poverty caucus to join my colleagues to discuss the uveraget crisis of poverty and to provide a voice for those living in poverty here in our congress in terms of our voices and who we feel that could get disproportionately hurt by any negotiations that take place that cut too deeply. i want to thank our leadership, especially our whip, mr. hoyer, for his powerful words this morning and for his leadership. leader pelosi and our assistant leader mr. clyburn for each and every day standing and working for the least of these. mr. speaker, a daunting statistic speaks for itself. one in five million children in america are growing up in poverty and nearly 45 million americans are living in poverty today. our national unemployment rate

is 9.% but for african-americans it is 16.2% and for latinos it is 11.6%. we know it's twice these statistics given the millions of people who have lost hope in looking for jobs. given these heart wrenching statistics, the congressional out of poverty caucus, our co-chairs, representative baca, butterfield, conyers and myself, we sent a letter to the president, the vice president and the congressional leadership on both sides of the aisle asking home to protect those programs that support those facing our living in poverty in the debt ceiling negotiations. my colleagues and i are here on the floor today to remind every member that it was not american families or children or the working poor that forced congress to run a deficit and it's -- and it definitely was not america's seniors on social security or medicare or people on medicaid that forced republicans to turn the first

budget surplus into decades of record deficits. two wars, massive tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, big oil, wall street, running wild, caused these deficits. the american people are willing to work, they want to work and pay their fair share. but they should not be asked to fill a hole they did not dig. we should quickly pass clean legislation to raise our debt ceiling, to end this default crisis so we can move on doing the critical work of creating jobs and responsibly addressing the national debt. making heartless cuts on the backs of hungry children and struggling american families will not balance the budget. every member of congress should consider the millions of americans who are struggling, struggling to find work. struggling to pay for health care if they have health care. struggling to stay in their homes and struggling to feed their children. mr. speaker, more and more americans are facing poverty every day and the congressional

out of poverty caucus son the floor once again to be the voice of these americans struggling day in and day out just to survive. demanding that we protect these vital safety net programs an help support the poor. especially in this great recession. we are here today to share some stories from people who have benefited from those programs and i have a story from veronica, who lives in northern california and who has turned her life around under these vital safety net programs. her story is one of hardship and survival, it's the story of getting back up when life knocks you down. it's the story of america. she is the american dream but she and her spouse were teenage parents, they relied on public assistance to bring up their children, were able to get good jobs and got off federal assistance. in 1995, the bottom fell out, their son was diagnosed with diabetes and her world implode. she tried to go back to work

full time and her son needed more care at home. she was given child care assistance to support her family and son. he was offered counseling and job training and in the fall of 2009, the opportunity, mind you to work at second harvest food bank as an administrative assistant through the federal stimulus program. she said she's still married to her husband, they have three beautiful children an there's no way she could have kept her family together without the help of such programs such as food stamps, medical and job training. we found, she said, unknown strength, faith, and resilience in our down fall and will do everything we can do to stay self-sufficient but cannot say enough about the blessed safety net. mr. speaker, we understand that even when you work hard and do things right, sometimes everyone needs a helping hand, especially when there are no jobs. i personally needed a helping hand in years past. when i was forced through many hardships i was faced with that

i had to rely on for many years, public assistance and food stamps and medical to get through school to take care of my kids and get a job. if it weren't for that safety net, i would not be here today. let me ask all of you to remember the poor, remember those struggling to survive and support those people who have exhausted their benefits, their unemployment benefit, they've hit the wall in 99 week we need to add more weeks of unemployment compensation for vims who the serve this help. the 99ers need help, we immediate to do this and we need to do more to create jobs and help people survive until we have the vision and back bone to do that here. thank you again. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. woodall for five minutes. mr. woodall: i'm conflicted as i come to the floor today. i planned to talk about tax reform this morning. the ways and means committee

for the first time in 10 years is holding a hearing on the fair tax next tuesday, july 26, the fair tax is a proposal that abolishes the income tax system in this country that punishes people based on what they earn and creates a consumption tax that rewards people based on how much they save. as we talk about poverty here this morning, as we talk about how to get folks back on their feet, the problem in this country is not that we don't bring in enough revenue, it's that we spend too much money. there's a bias in our culture now toward consumption as opposed to thrift. now when did that happen? i wish i were a better student of history. i know that ben franklin saved with us that a penny saved is a penny earned. i know our colleagues in the past said if we talk about a million here and a million there, pretty soon we're talking about real money. my grandfather was a united

methodist minister in the south georgia conference. he was a navy chaplain in world war ii, worked the south georgia circuit after the war. they'd get together and get all the little nubs of the candles that they would have during the year and melt them all together to put together those christmas candles. i don't know if you grew up with one of those christmas canned unless your home but they couldn't afford to buy a candle but they had to save up the nubs and put in the wicks themselves. he told the store roif cold winters and hot summers, and every time the klan would threaten to burn a cross on the lawn, my grandfather would sit out on the front porch with a shotgun. a man of peace, a minister, sitting on the porch with a shotgun but that's the way things were in that part of the world and in those days. and he went on to become the superintendent of the united methodist which children's home in the south georgia

conference. . he died about a decade ago without two nickles to rub together. he reached out to those who didn't have anyone else to advocate on their behalf. his entire career he spent building people up. his entire career he spent reaching out to those who had no one and being their someone. and as this discussion goes on here this morning, i promise you there is not a bureaucrat in washington, d.c., there is not an agency funded by federal dollars that loves people like my grandfather loved people. there's not one. there is not one bureaucrat in washington, d.c., there is not one agency under federal control that loves children the way my grandfather loved children. folks, we have a choice each and every day. it's going on in this debate that we are having over deficits and debts and defaults

. freedom and security. you know what my big fear is? my big fear is not it's going to be a default on the united states debt, my big fear is there is going to be a default on the promise of america. my you big fear is that the government is doing so much that we as people may think that we get to do so little. the government's not taking care of anyone, the government is taking from people who would have taken care of someone, and is feeling that responsibility for nurturing our neighbors. it is not the government's job to feed the hungry in my community, it's my job. it's not the government's job to reach out to the least of these, it's my job. we are talking about children here on the house floor here today, as we are talking about the most vulnerable of these, i think back to steny hoyer's words in 1995, but when it comes to balanced budgets, when

it comes to running up deficits, the person who gets hurt the worst when reckless government spending goes unchecked are the least of these. are the children. i agree with him 100%. what are we teaching our children today? what are we teaching our children about our responsibility as individuals to take care of one another? where is the proposal? i have been in congress seven months now. there has not been a single proposal to encourage individuals to take care of one another. time and time again what there are proposals that take away the responsibility from individuals, of taking care of one another, and to transfer that responsibility to government. now, i say that with passion. i know, mr. speaker, as you know, that everyone who brings those proposals to the floor brings it with a full heart. i do not question the motivations or the intentions of anyone who is reaching out to the least of these. i only question the results, mr. speaker, the longest and most expensive war in this country's history is not the

war in afghanistan. it is the war on poverty. and the government's results are poor. we need to put it back in the hands of individuals. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the the gentlewoman from florida, ms. brown, for five minutes. ms. brown: thank you, mr. speaker. the best anti-poverty program is a job. the stimulus bill saves $3.3 million jobs just this year. after eight years of reverse robin hood under bush, we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. i repeat, we was losing 800,000 jobs a month. people headed toward poverty. the stimulus bill reversed the slide to poverty for this nation. earlier this week i submitted for the congressional record showing that the stimulus bill had funded 700,000 educational jobs. more than all of the jobs lost

due to hurricane katrina and b.p. oil spill combined. today i submit for the record data on jobs saved by creating the transportation funding in the stimulus bill. since february, 2009, 355,000 positions have been funded directly by the department of transportation. that many figure does not include the jobs indirectly created by the stimulus bill as states and local government lavished their funds -- leveraged their funds for improvement that gets goods and services moving throughout this country. so far the deal has paid out $30 billion in grants and has authorized for another $18 billion. over 15,000 projects have been possible by the stimulus bill. mr. speaker, can anyone seriously argue that $48 billion for roads, rails, and

infrastructure will not put billions of people to work? of course they can't. in my district construction of the new amtrak station in anford, florida, employs 46 subcontractors, 45 of them from florida. does anyone want to call that a disaster? the real disaster is we didn't put enough money in the stimulus bill for transportation. this country gives a failing grade for the conditions of roads and bridges that we are going to have disaster after dis-- disaster like what occurred in minnesota. the collapsing of the bridge that killed people. mr. speaker, the stimulus bill put us on the road to recovery and i will continue to set record straight. let's not stop this recovery by reversing courses. the pending transportation re-authorization bill will take us back a decade and will kill

the millions of jobs, that is what i call a disaster. and i am placing in the record the transportation and how much each state received and how many jobs it created. for example, in florida 782 projects, over 16,000 people put to work, and let me just mention one other state, pennsylvania. 384 projects, 13,000 jobs reported. you know, mr. speaker, people come to this floor and they talk all the time and i guess people on tv think that what they are saying is actual, or factual. well, you know you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. shuster, for five minutes. mr. shuster: i ask unanimous

consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. shuster: thank you, mr. speaker. the time for talk is over. the time for action has come. we are in a spending driven debt crisis. washington is spending money it doesn't have, and it's leaving the american people, our children, and grandchildren with the tab. the national debt now stands at $14 trillion which is equal to 95% of the economy of the united states. in his first two years in office, president obama has added more to the national debt than was added between 1776 and 1992. totaling close to $4 trillion in debt in less than 36 months. we are now borrowing 40 cents on every dollar. i was a small business owner before i came to congress, if i borrowed 40 cents on every dollar my business would be out of business. it's not long before they are

in crisis. president obama inherited an economy in distress. there is no denying that. however, practically every decision he's made and every policy he has pursued has made matters worse. between a failed trillion dollar stimulus, a trillion dollar government takeover of health care, this administration has spent without restraint. and without regard to our financial health. if spending is the problem, then controlling spending, washington spending is the solution. my colleagues stand on the house floor and talk about increasing revenues. by raising taxes. history tells us a different story. we can raise revenues by lowering tax rates. president kennedy did it in the 1960's. president reagan did it in the 1980's. even president bush in 2000 when he lowered tax rates, what happened was not a decrease in revenues to the federal government, but an increase. in fact in 2000 after the 2001, 2002, 2003 tax cuts we had

record revenues in the government. our problem is spending. that's why i join my colleagues in voting to pass cut, cap, and balance. by passing this legislation the house stepped in and filled the vacuum of leadership left by the president of the united states in the debt limit negotiations. we acted to cut spending by over $110 billion. capped the growth of spending, and forced congress to balance its books through a constitutional balanced budget amendment. no one wants the united states to default on its debt, the consequences would be dire. not only for our economy, but for the world. however, we cannot continue down this path that has led us to this crisis. the house has acted. it's time for the president to step in and act as well. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the chair now recognizes the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee, for five minutes.

ms. jackson lee: i'd like to particularly thank the out of poverty caucus, congresswoman lee, towns, and conyers, honda, and a number of other members who have joined that caucus and all of us who are here on the floor who are members of that caucus. and who believe that this could not be a more important time. a few days ago i got on the

floor to rename the cut, cap, and balance legislation that was passed that would cut $6 trillion out of the hearts and needs of the american people. and i called it the tap dance, looser's club, and -- loser's club, and bust the benefits bill because this is not a question of members who are standing here today wanting to recklessly spend your money. in fact, we are excited about opportunities that help boost the middle class. but we want to remind our colleagues that there are americans who are impoverished. do you know that there are americans who are on the frontlines? young soldiers, the ages of 18, 19, 20, and 21 who have come

out of places like the delta in mississippi, or fifth ward in texas, or the appalachian mountains. suffering from the highest degree of poverty or the urban centers around the nation. not poverty that they have generated on themselves. yes, there are issues sometimes with legacy poverty, families that have never broken the cycle who are living in public housing, or even worse, living in housing that is not fit to be lived in. travel in some of the shoes that. us travel in, and go to places in america where there is no running water. so we come today to acknowledge the fact that there are poverty or there is poverty in america. in my own state, people who are living with poverty rose to

16.3% in 2007, 17.2% in 2009, and we happen to be the second largest state in the nation. those are large numbers of individuals, and we have the highest number of soldiers who have come back from iraq and afghanistan in the state of texas. some of whom have had to access food stamps. the keyser family foundation estimates that there are currently 5.6 million texans living in poverty. 2.2 million of them are children. so i stand here today and let our eyes rest upon what poverty truly is. this little one is a symbol of what poverty really is. it is the innocent and those who cannot speak for themselves. over 50% of the children that are in foster care in harris county, that is in texas, happen to be minority children. african-american children.

i remember my late colleague, mickey leyland, was so overwhelmed by the depth of children in crisis and need that he organized something called the crisis cradle. so that when babies had to be taken out of a home, a distressed home in the middle of the night, they could come to a comforting place. but those babies were in poverty, were in crisis. . and they became part of the foster care system. that is a system that needs money, not because they are deadbeats but because they are innocent children. who have come into home situations where women are impoverished, where there may be abuse. poverty comes in all forms. 3.9 millionres. tents of texas relied on the supplemental nutrition access program.

this is all discretionary spending which this would devastate. tap dancing around, lifting the debt ceiling, something that president reagan said to representative at the time he was president it would cause incalculable damage if the debt ceiling was not raised. constitutionally, the debt ceiling may be unconstitutional? the 14th amendment, section 4, says, that all debt of the united states, public debt, should be recognized. and so we come today just to conclude, mr. speaker, to let america know, should we let this little baby be part of the loser club? or should we let our soldiers and their families, grandmothers and grandfathers, should they be part of the loser club? we're standing here today for the impoverished and we are committed to fighting for them.

i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from louisiana, mr. landry, for five minutes. -- mr. landrieux for five minutes. -- mr. landry for five minutes. mr. landry: when i ran for this office, i didn't run to get a job, i ran to create jobs. i know there's a new poll out there, supposedly, that tells us that independents, a majority of independents, a vast majority of independents, want us to compromise for a deal. but the question that all of the members of this house should pull their -- should poll the constituents and the american people with is whether or not they want this congress to compromise their country for a deal. do we compromise our country for the sake of simply getting

a deal. i also ran to uphold the constitution. i supported cut, cap, and balance. it is the compromise that i came here to make. a compromise is agreeing to raise the debt ceiling if we get real cuts, if we cap our spending, and we do what a vast majority of the states in this country do and that is have a balanced budget amendment. what is so wrong with this balanced budget amendment? it's hard for me to understand, mr. speaker. and then, along comes the gang of six. the gang of six. let's see what the gang of six has. part one, they cut $500 billion in gimmicks compared to our real cuts.

how do they cut $500 billion? part of it is by changing the formula in indexes for -- in indexing for social security. only in this city does the law of mathematics not work. when i was in the second grade, i was taught two plus two is four, two times two is four, that didn't change, it's still that today. but in this town, when you're inside this beltway, mathematics is different. you can get a different outcome based upon a different formula. then the second part is, they use the reconciliation process in order to control our spending. let's see, the last time we used the reconciliation process, we got obamacare. that's how they passed obamacare. they used the reconciliation process to pass obamacare and i have a feeling that what we're

going to get out of this gang of six is a bill that they're going to ask us to vote for before we know what's in it. thirdly, if through this reconciliation process, they come out with the cuts that are necessary to bring them within -- within their -- the amount that they allocate that we need to cut and save, then they're going to, if that reconciliation process produces a supermajority in the senate, only after they produce a supermajority of votes in the senate, would they move to shoring up our social security system. what they should be doing is working on getting a supermajority so we can pass a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. what is so wrong with giving the american people the

opportunity to speak, to say, congress, you have been out of control. you need to balance your books like all the american families in this country do. in closing, i want to warn our members in this chamber that the gang of six proposal cedes the power of the house to the senate. now, i came here to uphold that constitution. the power of the purse, article 1, section 5, clause 1, gives the power of the purse to this house. regardless of whether you're a democrat or a republican, you should care about that. those committees in the senate should not be dealing with our tax laws. or they should only deal with them after we have had a chance to send it to them. this is what the american people demand.

they demand that our constitution work and for it to work, revenue and spending starts here in the house. let's not cede the power of the house over to the senate. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the chair will receive a message. the messenger: mr. speaker, a message from the senate. the secretary: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: i have been directed to inform the house that the senate has passed with amendment s. 6655, the department of veterans affairs for fiscal year ending september 30, 2012. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from indiana, mr. carson, for two minutes. mr. carson: thank you, mr. speaker. it is very easy for some members of congress to blindly advocate across the board cuts to our investments in people.

but i join those today to ask my colleagues to open their eyes to what these cuts really mean. they aren't abstract numbers. for the many people living in poverty, they mean lives. irrep rahably damaged and critical opportunities lost. my home state, the great hoosier state of indiana, suffers from an average unemployment rate of 10%. among veterans, that number is higher and for wounded vets and others with physical limitations, the numbers are staggeringly higher. as a result of these economic times, mr. speaker, more families live in poverty and rely critically on your and my help. valuable health care. education. housing.

and job training programs. are necessary to provide them with the tools for survival. at this time, mr. speaker, when most of our communities are struggling to recover, we must not turn our backs on the people who are trying to overcome extreme poverty. i ask my colleagues to remember these as a rule nurble -- these vulnerable americans, they're not burdens, they're our children, our working mothers, our police officers, our firefighters, our neighbors, our vets, they are our fellow americans. i yield back, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the chair recognizes the gentleman from colorado, mr. coffman, for five mins. -- for five minutes.

mr. coffman: i request unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. coffman: mr. speaker, today i rise to honor a soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice and laid down his life for our freedoms. united states army sergeant nathan ryan byers. sergeant byers a 2006 graduate of high school in highlands ranch, colorado, volunteered to serve in the idaho army national guard. in the army he served with 145thbury gade support battalion of the 116th calvary heavy brigade combat team he deployed with his unit in support of operation new dawn in iraq. on july 7, 2011, he gave his life in the line of duty on a

convoy security mission. nathan is remembered not only for his heroics on the battlefield, but for the tremendous impact he had on his family, friends, and community. he was absolutely devoted to his family and his fellow soldiers. as his wife recalls, nathan was proud of his job and serving his -- our country he died doing something he loved and was such a brave person. sergeant nathan brian byers personified the honor and selfishness -- selflessness of serving as a citizen soldier. his honor and dedication to duty will not be forgot ben. my deepe sympathies go to my family -- go to his family, his fellow soldiers and all who knew them. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york, mr. towns, for two minutes. mr. tourns: thank you very much, mr. speaker. let me just sort of set the record straight. this blame thing, when president obama came into office, we were in debt. and we were also involved in two wars when he came into office. and when president clinton left office there was a surplus. we need to make certain we keep our facts in line. i stand here this morning with the out of poverty caucus to voice my opposition to the cut, cap and balance act passed by this body yesterday. furthermore, i'm very disturbed that many of the policies being promoted by some of my colleagues are unjust and they are just plain wrong. cutting back on medicare and social security is unfair to senior citizens who have worked hard all of their lives and

should not have to worry at this point whether they can afford to go to the doctor or buy the medicine they need. let me add, i am baffled at times by the fact that many of my colleagues refuse to even consider how unjust their proposals are. yes, we must reduce our debt burden. i agree with that. but it is unjust to balance the budget on the backs of the poor. and most as a rule -- on the backs of the poor and most vulnerable citizens in our nation. the wealthy must join the sacrifice, they must be included. according to a report from the center on budget priorities, 2/3 of the income gained from 2002 to 2007 went to the top 1% of the income earners. many of my colleagues are saying, give them more tax breaks.

they're not even asking for them but they say give them more. many of the members of the body believe it's all right to balance the budget by taking food out of the mouths of babies, by cutting w.i.c. programs and imagine how terrible it must be for a mother or father to send their kid to bed hungry at night. that is why i stand for the out of poverty caucus and say, enough is enough. on that note, i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from the vi gin islands, mrs. christensen, for three minutes. mrs. christensen: thank you, mr. speaker. the republican leadership has taken us to the brink of a default crisis by holding the debt ceiling and our ability to pay bills hostage. their latest, cut, cap, and balance is putting the full faith and credit of our nation at risk and threatening critical safety nets for our seniors, people with disabilities and the poor, including our nation's children. medicare covers over four

million african-americans, over four million latinos and close to two million other people of color. citizens with higher poverty rates, who have some of the most serious health problems. our seniors and people with disabilities relie on medicaid for long-term care and there are nine million dual eligibles, low-income citizens who are enrolled in and rely on both medicare and medicaid. nearly three in every four poor or near-poor african-american or latinos are covered by medicaid but 64% of low-income black chern and 63% of low-income latino children are in medicaid. medicaid also provides critically important support to all americans who lost their jobs as a result of the economic downturn. in the affordable care act, democrats strengthen medicaid and contrary to what you hear, we use $500 million in savings identified in medicare to extend its solvency and begin to close the doughnut hole. in this risky standoff, it is

clear that medicare and medicaid payments are at risk and african-americans and other racial and ethnic minorities and the poor, who are already under water and who rely on them for coverage, will bear the overwhelming brunt of the cuts as will the providers of facilities that care for them. this is unacceptable. the loss of the economic multiplier effect that states would experience as a result of federal medicaid cuts would be greater than the amount of the cuts of medicaid themselves. we're calling on the republican leadership to do what we all know must be done to release the debt ceiling and all the people who are being held hostage with it, the poor, racial and ethnic minorities who we stand here on behalf of today with the out of poverty caucus. i quote dr. martin luther king jr. who says, of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane. we must avert the default crisis, let's lift the debt

ceiling, pay our bills and avoid an economic catastrophe the good people of this country do not deserve and cannot withstand. i yield back the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. davis, for two minutes. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. the latest census data dramatically shows how african-americans have made significant gains in the 1950's and 1960's. progress began to stall in the 1970's. four decades after the civil rights movement, blacks still earn only 57 cents and latinos earn 59 cents for each dollar of white median family income in this country. the coninfrastructure is even starker for network. that is the total value of investments, savings, homes, and other property minus debt. blacks hold only 10 cents of net wealth and latinos 12 cents

for every dollar that whites hold. out of the 43.6 million americans living below the poverty threshold, 9.9 million of those are african-americans. meanwhile, the latest unemployment rates are to say the least grim. overall african-american unemployment, 6.2%, african-american men, 17%, black teenagers, about 40%, and this congress can't find the votes to extend unemployment insurance. i say that our policies must reflect the needs of those who are most vulnerable. we must provide opportunity for the needy and not just the greedy. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from illinois, ms. schakowsky, for two minutes. ms. schakowsky: last year, john

karlsson, a hedge fund manager, made about $5 billion and paid taxes at a lower rate than most americans. right now the 400th richest americans in our country control as much wealth as 150 million other americans. we have a crisis all right in our country. and it's called a disappearing middle class. the rich getting richer. the poor getting poorer, and the middle going into poverty. we have a jobs crisis in our country. and the poverty -- poverty has taken an entirely new face as a result of the financial crisis, the recession, and our nation's slow economic recovery. in scokea, illinois, a solid middle class suburb now -- 40% of the kids that go to school there qualify for reduced or free lunch. and the food pantry is bulging now with new people waiting in line. i went to a mortgage foreclosure workshop in

suburban dess plains, illinois, and i felt like i was watching the american dream slip through the fingers of hardworking americans. more than one in five children is now called food insecure, meaning they go to bed hungry some nights. and what have the republicans decided to do? they decided to cut the programs that will help those people. that's how they want to reduce the deficit. they passed a bill called the cut, cap, and balance bill. and it cuts and it caps and it balances. cuts medicare, caps, medicaid, and it balances the budget on the backs of the seniors and the poor. and the w.i.c. program that takes food out of the mouths of hungry children. there is something very wrong. and very un-american with the republican proposal that makes it easier to cut medicare than to cut subsidies for oil and gas companies. easier to cut social security than to ask for one penny more for the billionaires like john

karlsson and easier to cut subsidies for food, for little children than to cut subsidies for corporate jets. i heard from a woman who lives on $1,023 a month. that's her social security. and she doesn't have enough money to make it through the month and often goes hungry. is this right in the richest country in the world? we can reduce our debt, but not on the backs of the middle class and those who are already poor. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson, for three minutes. mr. johnson: thank you. thank you, mr. speaker. according to the latest figures available, an estimated 43.5 million americans are living in poverty. ladies and gentlemen, that's

more than the entire state of california. unbelievable. communities of color continue to be disproportionately affected by poverty. the national unemployment rate is 9.2%. in my home state of georgia, it's even higher at 9.8%. with millions of americans in poverty, and a high unemployment rate, would you think the congress would do what it was elected to do. which is to create jobs and pass legislation that spurs economic growth. but in the past seven months the republican majority has not moved one single jobs bill. instead this house majority is pushing bills through that take away grandma's social security check, dismantle the affordable care act that will provide health care to millions of uninsured americans, and cut a first generation college student's pell grants.

they want to crash our economy by ignoring the need to raise the debt ceiling, and ignoring the catastrophe that would occur if we don't. instead of bringing us an opportunity and the american dream, the republican majority gives us cut, cap, and kill. kill medicare, social security, medicaid. those are the prisoners who are awaiting execution. it's really about crash, slash, and trash. staying committed to safety net programs and health education, housing, and employment is both a moral and an economic responsibility that we cannot ignore. according -- however, congress seems to be doing all that it can to keep families from getting back on their feet during times of economic

distress. they shouldn't be trying to pull the wool out from under the people of this great nation. regular working people. the record debt run-up by the bush administration was a direct result of republicans' two unfunded wars, failed economic policies, and failed oversight of the financial services sector. and what we need to do is support more programs like pathways out of poverty that puts residents in my district back to work doing great jobs. instead what we want to do is give rupert murdoch a tax break. give all the big oil companies tax loopholes that you can drive a submarine through. and americans need to go to work. so let's focus on getting

americans what they need which is jobs, jobs, jobs. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until 12:00 noon today.

but gives families the cuts they're demanding without job-crushing tax hikes. it's also important to take a real reduction. there should be structural reform to our entitlement programs and there will be no tax increases. our legislation that meet this is test would be the best approach to help create jobs and get our economy moving again. with all that's at stake right now, it's not enough to wish or to wait far solution to materialize.

and whatever you want to call that approach, it's certainly not leadership. the republicans have laid out a responsible and detailed path forward and the house has passed it. the senate should now pass cut, cap, and balance and it's already cleared the house with bipartisan support an i'm hopeful that the senate will do so as well. listen, the ball continues to be in the president's court. it's been there for some time. if we're going to avoid the fault and prevent a downgrade of our credit rating, if we're going to create jobs and jump start the economy, i think he needs to step up and work with us on the spending cuts and reforms that the american people are demanding. >> i know you have a lot of members who don't like the idea of a compromise bill and don't want to raise the debt ceiling have you told them that any deal will involve some

compromise? have you prepared them? >> i have >> they said letting the bush tax cuts expire is not a tax rise, does that make it easier? >> i never societied to raise taxes and don't intend to. >> do you see this as a possibility we could get to august 2 and not have something done? >> that would not be my goal. >> but we're 12 days away, are we in danger of that happening? >> i do not -- i believe that the congress must act before august 2 and i hope that wear prepared to do that. >> speaker boehner, on tuesday, president obama legislation was proposed to repeal the defense of marriage act. >> congress has acted on this

issue, some number of years ago. i think what the congress acted on in a bipartisan way and is the law of the land should remain the law of the land. >> tax reform under discussion between the you and the president? >> i think i'll keep the contents of my discussion with the president between the president and myself. it would be -- i believe that keeping the lines of communication open were important. frankly, i figure it would be irresponsible on behalf of the congress and the president not to be looking at backup strategies for thousand solve this problem. but in the meantime, the house has acted. we've passed our cut, cap, and balance bill, it's time for the senate to act. >> do you believe that letting the bush high income tax cuts expire next year would be raising taxs? >> i believe that would be raidsing taxes.

>> after cut, cap, and balance, one of the leaders was asked after the effort if there could be a compromise, he said that was the a compromise. do you feel that some of your members cannot compromise and are locked in? >> i'm sure some members blev that. i do not believe that would be close to the majority. at the end of the day, we have a responseability to act. we have two problems a debt ceiling that has to be raised and if we don't deal with the size of our debt, our credit rating will be downgraded. the united states of america's debt rating gets downgrade, every interest rate in america will go up. it is -- it is important for us to act on both fronts if we're serious about getting our economy going again and growing jobs. thanks.

>> shortly before house speaker john boehner, house democratic whip steny hoyer held a briefing where he also commented about prodepress in the debt and deficit negotiations. he's joined by m.d. governor martin o'malley. -- by maryland governor martin o'malley. >> good morning. i thank you for being here. i wanted to have this brief press availability after our whip meeting. i asked governor martin o'malley who is not only the governor of my state and my good friend, but also chaired the democratic governors' association of our country. i asked governor o'malley to come to be with us this morning to discuss the effects and

ramifications of our failure to extend the debt limit and to ensure that america can pay its bills. he and -- he, in league with our governor, our fellow governor from virginia, i know, has also expressed his great concern that we not address the ability of the united states of america to remain credit worthy and pay its bills. americans expect their country to meet our obligations. it is a moral obligation and it is a legal obligation. surely americans want us to facility that -- facilitate that end. i'm hopeful our republican leadership in the house and the republican leadership in the senate will work together to affect policies which will allow america to be the

continuing credit worthy nation in the world. but we talk about that in terms of global effects. but we also need to talk about it, and that's what governor o'malley talked about, in terms of the local effects on our states and on our citizens in every one of our states system of i thank the governor for being with us. he spoke very effectively and pointedly to our caucus. our caucus was very impressed. i'm pleased he would join us this morning. i'm pleased now to yield to the governor of maryland, chairman of the democratic governors' association of america. >> thank you very, very much. thank you for everything you're doing at this defining moment in our country's history. in the course of the next several days, we'll determine as a nation whether we still have what it takes as people of good will to forge a consensus to move forward and that's indeed what we need to do. we need to move forward with the goal of job creation and

the way forward is a balanced approach. governors throughout our united states understand that a balanced approach is what's required in order for us to create jobs and create -- expand opportunity and move our country forward, whether we're democrats or republicans, all of us strive to protect our own bond ratings, in our state, balance our budgets, to have a balanced approach that move ours people forward that creates jobs. that's why all of us whether we're dormse republicans, are greatly concerned about the adverse impact on job creation and saving jobs that would happen if extreme members of the republican party needlessly drive our country either into a default or into massive public sector cuts that are shoved down upon states. we need a balanced approach and i'm hopeful and optimistic that

people of good will in both parties will come together to accomplish this goal. and the governors of the country want to be part of this solution. we believe that we can save $100 billion in medicaid by doing a better job of aligning the incentives among those citizens that are dually eligible in medicaid and medicare. we believe there's opportunity for people of good will from both parties to come together, not withstanding the things that have divided us, the fact of the matter is, every person of good will, whether democrat or republican, should want to see our country recover from this recession. create jobs, save jobs, an move forward into better times. mr. leader, i'm confident that with your caucus, and with people of good will, that we can find that balanced approach. the danger we face right now is

this, our jobs recovery is fragile and there are two ways to kill that jobs recovery, one is by needlessly driving our country into default. we need to pay our bills. the other is with massive public sector cuts. there is a third way a more balanced way, and that is the way that we need to come together to forge, not just as democrats or republicans, but as americans. we immediate to key ate jobs, we need to save jobs, that's our primary goal and the way forward is a balanced approach. >> i thank the governor for his observations. he was very compelling in our caucus. in closing, let me say in terms of a balanced approach, which we have been working toward, obviously a balanced approach is represented by a number of commissions, by the six senators who made a proposal, but therefore been other balanced approaches put forward for consideration which involve both yes, restraining

straining, but not doing so in a way that will undercut our ability to get our economy growing an creating the jobs that governor o'malley talked about, making sure our people have the opportunities that they need and want for themselves and for their children, but also to have revenues which will enhance our ability to invest in our future. our president said we need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build our international competitors. if we do not do that, if we don't have investment in our future, our kids won't have the future that they want. i want to call your apension to a "washington post" edtorial i read today because i think it is particularly important as republicans who signed a pledge, pledge to mr. norquist, saying they would not in any way deal with revenues, i think mr. norquist has made a very, very important statement that i hope they each take into consideration.

in the "washington post" edtorial, it says this, the kansas of extending president george bush's tax cuts for another decade could be pursued without being accused of breaking their promise, said grover norquist. the quote is this, not continuing, this is mr. norquist, a quote, not continuing a tax cut is not technically a tax increase. that, of course, was discussed when they were talking about ethanol, tax benefit in the senate. but i'm hopeful that speaker boehner who has indicated he wants to have a large, grand design, will be able to pursue that in a balanced way so that we can put our country on a sound fiscal path and as importantly, bring our country out of this deepest of recessions that anybody has

experienced since the great depression. that will be a plan we can implement, agree upon and do so in the next few days. thank you very much. >> can you talk about -- when you talk about those of good will coming together, are you -- do you think representatives cantor and boehner are negotiating in good faith and do you think they want to reach a deal by august 2? >> first of all, as i said, i think the speaker has made it very clear in his discussions with president obama that he thought reaching a balanced result, making sure we do not default and ensuring that the economy grows is his objective. i take him at his word. it is now hopefully going to be

possible for him to lead his party toward that end. in cooperation with the president of the united states, with the leadership of both parties in the united states senate, and the leadership of my party in our house. so i give him credit for articulating a desire to get to an end that i think is important for our country. governor? >> i believe that there are some members, some members, of the republican party who, in order to defeat president obama in the next election, would like to kill the jobs recovery now either by default or by massive, sudden cuts to public sector jobs. having said that, i believe that a majority of public servants in the proud party of lincoln, want what's best for our country and would like to see our country move forward, would like to see our country start creating and saving more jobs again. that's really the resonant

space that we need to find as the great and diverse people that we are. we may differ on approach, but i think the main goal that members of the majority -- the majority of the members of the party of lincoln desire is to see our country move forward and some of the recent polling that was in one of my favorite daily periodicals, "the washington post," pointed out that almost 50% of registered republicans believe that a balanced approach is what's required. on revenues and spending. overwhelming majorities of independents and overwhelming majorities of democrats. but certainly if half of registered republicans believe a balanced approach is what's required, certainly there's at least that large a number of republicans in congress of good will who can find a way

forward. governor mcdonell in virginia, his state, like maryland, is a state that has defended, maintained and made the tough choices necessary to have a triple-a bond rating. on both sides of the potomac, maryland' triple-a bond rating and virginia's triple-a bond rating is threatened by our potential inability to pay the bills of the united states, the wealthiest republic on the planet. there's no need for us to go into default. there's a balanced way forward and we need to find it. >> let me add one observation. unfortunately, over the last few months, we have considered two pieces of legislation, one which the republicans put on the floor to lift the debt limit was designed to fail and in fact the bill they put on the floor, every one of them voted against. every one of them.

a bill that we considered this week was clearly designed to give republicans a vote without any expectation that that would become law and affect the end of raising the debt limit so that america would not default on its bills. so hopefully we will not go down that -- >> house democratic whip steny hoyer along with maryland governor mark o'malley earlier today on progress in the debt and deficit negotiations. you can see this briefing in its entirety on our website, c-span.org. we are leaving it now to go live to the u.s. house, members returning for legislative business, including work on a bill making changes to the new consumer financial protection bureau. votes on amendments and final passage expected later today. this is live coverage of the u.s. house on c-span.

the speaker: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered today by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. eternal god, we give you thanks for giving us another day. once again we come to ask -- to you to ask wisdom, patience, peace, and understanding for

the members of this people's house. the words and septemberments that have been spoken and heard in these recent days were born of principle, conviction, and commitment. we ask for the members that they might judge anew their ahere's to principle, conviction, and commitment, lest they slide incharitably toward an inability to listen to one another and work cooperatively to solve the important issues of our day. give them the generosity of heart and the courage of true leadership to work toward a common solution which might call for compromise even sacrifice on both sides. we pray that their work results not in a result where some are winners and some losers, but where all americans know in their hearts that we are winners. may all that is done this day

be for your greater honor and glory, amen. the speaker: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. for what purpose does the gentlelady from ohio rise? the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from minnesota. mr. walz mr. walz: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker: the chair will entertain up to 15 requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? without objection, so ordered.

>> thank you, mr. speaker. sometimes small steps can make a big difference. and often the best legislation comes from our constituents. that's the case with legislation that i have introduced called the debt contribution act which gives americans simpler ways to make a tax deductible contribution specifically to reduce our national debt. recently i received letters from constituents like this one asking how they can donate funds to pay down our national debt. i voluntarily give $700 out of every paycheck to go toward paying down the national debt and i want to make it easier for like-minded citizens to do the same. that's why i sponsored the debt contribution act. it does three things. first, it creates a checkoff box on the individual income tax form to make it more user friendly to give a tax deductible contribution to pay down the national debt. second, it makes sure that

$100% of those funds are used to reduce the national debt and not redirect it for any purpose. and finally, it makes it clear that it is tax deductible as it has been to give that charitable contribution. mr. stivers: our national debt's now $14. trillion and we need to do everything we can to pay down our national debt. i urge my colleagues from both sides to support this measure. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? without objection. mr. baca: madam speaker, on tuesday we passed one of the worst bills i have ever seen in my time in congress. the cut, cap, and default plan jammed throughout by the republicans is not a real solution to our fiscal crisis. instead, it threatens medicare benefits and it increasings out-of-pocket ex-- increases out-of-pocket expenses for seniors. just another example of special interests holding our country hostage to protect tax breaks

for the wealthiest few. it has been 28 weeks since the republicans took control of the house and we have not seen a jobs bill. instead, we see a bill that makes seniors suffer while cutting taxes for ultrarich and corporations to ship jobs overseas. the bush tax cuts for the wealthy have failed to create jobs. we need a balanced solution to go forward. no new taxes. no jobs. no taxes, no jobs. let's work on a plan that solves our nation's deficit without making our seniors and our middle class pick up the tab. i yield back the balance of my time the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana rise? without objection. >> madam speaker, i rise today to honor terre haute police officer brent d. long. officer long was killed in the line of duty on july 11, 2011,

while assisting to serve a felony warrant. a proud member of the terre haute indiana police department for six years, a canine handler and member of the department's swat team, officer long was 34 years old. terre haute has lost one of its finest citizens and the community will forever be indebted to officer long's service. his sacrifice and valor should be commended and i would like to offer my most heartfelt condolences to officer long's family, friends, and to the terre haute police department who have lost one of their own. with that, madam speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? without objection. mr. inslee: madam speaker, as we search for bipartisan solution to our fiscal short-term and long-term issues, i don't think we should be unmindful of what is really happening in the real world. in the real world there's two things, one we have a job

crisis, and two, we have americans sweltering from coast to coast with unprecedented heat. and these things are connected. because if we adopt a clean energy strategy to develop clean energy sources, we can prevent our climate from continuing to change which left unabated will leave new york city with three times the number of days with over 95-degree temperatures in the next several decades. we need to have an energy policy that will invest in those clean energy jobs and as we look for this bipartisan solution, let's not cut off our energy research which is going to be successful building a new clean energy strategy for this country and build millions of new clean energy jobs. by the way, keep us in a climate that's habitible. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? without objection. >> thank you, madam speaker. the shuttle has landed, it's

returned to earth at daybreak this morning and marked the end of america's 30-year shuttle history of scientific and engineering excellence in space. i'm a strong believer in american exceptionalism. at its heart the story of america's exploration of space is a story of america's exceptionalism. no other nation has mastered manned space flight like the united states. launched anything like the hubble space telescope or led efforts like the international space station. 42 years ago today americans first walked on the moon. no other nation has come close to matching this achievement. but i'm deeply concerned about america's future greatness. mr. hultgren: today the path forward for our space program is unclear save for empty political rhetoric president obama has been unwilling to lead or articulate a vision for future american endeavors in space. the defense department fears that the loss of our civilian space program will erode our aerospace industry base and threaten our technological edge in all fields.

as a result, we are left relying on putin for rides into orbit. this is unacceptable and it's un-american. i hope we'll reform washington's habit of borrowing and spending and after we have cut, capped, and balanced it's time to lead again in space. it's time again for american exceptionalism. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota rise? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walz: thank you, madam speaker. it's my honor to rise today to congratulate a college in st. peter, minnesota, on 150 years of academic excellence. for a century and a half it has strived as a press stiegeous and nationally recognized liberal arts college and cultivated the values of faith, service, and community in its students. i have had the opportunity to see firsthand the many graduates who live by the motto of the college, make your life count. the students are bright,

engaged, and my interaction with them leaves me feeling optimistic about the future. i'm also lucky enough to be married to one of their alums. every year they host a unique and world renowned science conference named after alfred nobel, as he pros pested in his life, international collaboration and science for the sake of improving our lives. this conference embodies what they are all about. pursuing academic excellence with the purpose of making it count. it can be proud of its 150 years and i'm confident its tradition of excellence will continue to leave a profound mark on minnesota and the world. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from washington rise? mrs. mcmorris rodgers: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: madam speaker, with a very heavy heart today that i rise to honor the life of staff sergeant wyatt a. gold smith. 28-year-old sergeant goldsmith

lost his life on july 15, while defending america in operation enduring freedom. as a native, sergeant goldsmith was a medic with the third battalion, third special forces group. he was treating an afghan commando when insurgents attacked his unit in helmund province last friday. while his life was cut way too short, his legacy lives on forever in the hearts of those who knew him and even those who did not. his many years in the service earned him the bronze star medal, a purple heart, two army commendation medals, an afghan campaign meddle a, iraqi campaign medal, and many other honors for his valor and heroism. so today i rise to remember an american hero who gave his life to make america safer, freer, and more prosperous. may god bless sergeant soldsmith's family and all the brave men and women who have answered america's call to

freedom. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? without objection. ms. sanchez: thank you, madam speaker. it is with great honor that i rise today to pay tribute to a friend. and a remarkable public servant , felix anton schwartz. he was the executive director of the health care council of orange county. where he had such a passion for working with people until his 80th year. unfortunately he passed away on the fourth of july. mr. schwarz will be remembered for his long and productive life where he brought people together to seek solutions to so many of our health care issues back home. he was an avid advocate to improve access and affordability for the people of orange county. and through the health care

council, mr. schwarz was able to educate the public, to educate health care professionals, and in particular policymakers in the need to support the county's safety net of health care services. he was a strong voice for the most vulnerable and neglected population within our area. mr. schwarz's energy and vision touched thousands of individuals and today i rise to honor his memory and the legacy that he has left for our community. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana rise? without objection. >> thank you, madam speaker. in august, 2009, president obama visited my district in elk heart, indiana, a constituent of mine expressed his disappointment with taxes and asked the president to explain how raises the taxes on anyone during a deep recession is going to help with the economy. president obama responded, i

guess what i would say to scott is his economics are right, you don't raise taxes in a recession. responding to a follow-up question, he stated, so he is absolutely right. the last thing you want to do is to raise taxes in the middle of a recession because that would just suck up, take more demand out of the economy and put business in a further hole. now the president is demanding that any debt ceiling compromise include higher taxes. mr. stutzman: that would discourage economic growth and in his own words take more money of the out of the economy. washington has a spending problem not a revenue problem. the g.o.p. plan to pass prosperity puts our nation on the strong footing and begins the journey towards balanced budgets and economic recovery. as part of our cut, cap, and balance act, the house republicans have demanded a balanced budget amendment to the constitution be sent to the states for ratification to require a balanced budget in washington just like americans do every day. i yield back. .

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from missouri rise? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, madam speaker. it's time to come together and put an end to this debt default crisis. economists and others warn us that failure to pay our nation's bills would cause interest rates to skyrocket, the dollar plummet, our modest economic recovery wiped away. mr. carnahan: are my republican colleagues going to continue to hold the recovery hostage, sending jobs overseas at the expense of seepors, are my republican colleagues really going to drive this economy other the cliff? last year, they promised america a jobs agenda and now they confess they have none. nearly 1,000 of my constituents have contacted my office in the

last two ekes concerned about the consequences of default. up with writes if our elected leaders let our country fall into default, it would be inexcusable. it's time to stop focusing on political posturing and give the american people the leader shep they deserve. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> madam speaker, yesterday marked the 42nd anniversary of our nation's greatest achievement, putting an american on the moon. today marks a different milestone with the last flight of the space shuttle. the space shuttle program has been the heartbeat of human spice plathe for the past 30 years.

today, we celebrate the shuttle fleet, columbia, challenger, discovery, atlantis, endeavour, for their awe-inspiring record. mr. olson: 135 missions, over five million miles flown in orbit, construction of the international space station, repair of the hubble telescope, the list goes on and on. we owe an imdemens gratitude to these those heros on challenger and columbia and their families who made the ultimate sacrifice for space exploration. most of all, we recognize the best space tri-team in the world for giving our country the honor of such incredible achievements and i am proud beyond words to represent the johnson space center, the home of u.s. human space flight now and forever. may god bless america and

remember this remarkable team. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. capps: last week we enacted consumer protections as part of the dodd-frank reform and consumer protection act. this create the consumer protection bureau. it was the first act dedicated to protecting consumers from predatory lending and confusing credit cards, that's something we should all agree on. it's good for consumers and for businesses who want to know their competitors are playing by the rules. but the majority has made it clear they dent like these new protections and worked actively to undermine them. this week, the house will consider h.r. 1315, a bill that increases bureaucratic red tape

and seriously weakens the bureau's authority to protect consumers. sadly, the majority is once again choosing wall street and its high-paid lobbyists over the middle class. i urge my colleagues to put main street over wall street and vote no on h.r. 1315. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> madam speaker, our number one priority here in the united states congress is jobs and the economy. i'm happy to say that i think that's the number one priority on both sides of the aisle. 10 the question becomes, what other things can we be doing each and every day to move forward with that agenda. in my district, the 10th district of illinois, we've got 650 manufacturers representing 680,000 jobs. it's the third largest district for manufacturing in our nation. mr. dold: 36,000 of those b --

jobs rely on exports. the president said he wants to double exports by 2013. we want to help him in that process. for every $1 billion we export, we create 62,050 jobs. the korean deal alone would add to our bottom line. it is important, i would say critical, we pass the free trade agreements with south america, panama and colombia to expand our markets and create jobs at home. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky rise? >> request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> nearly every economist in our country and leaders from both sides of the aisle agree, defaulting on our debt would be disastrous to our economy, to middle class families and to our most vulnerable citizens. yet more than 60 of our republican colleagues have said they will not under any circumstances support a plan to raise the debt ceiling and prevent another economic

crisis. since day one of this congress, they've been driven by a reckless tea party ideology that ignores reality and now with the security of our economy and every american family on the line, they again choose ideology over reality. but ideology doesn't pay the bills. middle class families can't buy groceries with idea ols. mortgage bankers don't accept ideology as payment and neither do credit card companies. ideology doesn't provide a safety net for our seniors and ideology won't pay our troops severing on the front lines. no matter how many times they deny the consequences of default, the reality won't cheanl this blind adherence to an ideology is not what the american people want or desire. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from dwyer rise? >> to address the house for one minute. >> without objection.

>> -- mr. carney: if we don't raise the debt ceiling the world will lose kfed in the u.s. and its credit rate welcome downgraded from its current bulletproof triple-a grade. interest rates will rise and risk pushing the economy back into recession. higher interest rates on u.s. treasuries would also seriously affect ordinary americans. a default would force americans to pay more for car loans and other borrowing. losing our triple-a rating will make it even more difficult to get our fiscal house in order. a default would be a financial disaster for the country, we can't afford it. we shopt just raise the debt ceiling. we should lose it as an opportunity for both sides to agree on a plan to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade. the so-called gang of six has come forward with a plan to do

just that. it's comprehensive, balanced and it's right for the country. it's not perfect, but it's all we have. it's time to do the right thing for the country. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> good morning, madam speaker. by direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution 358 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 57, house resolution 358, resolved that at any time after the adoption of this resolution, the speaker may, pursuant to clause 2-b of rule 18, declare the house resolved into the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of the bill h.r. 315 to amend the dodd-frank wall street reform and consumer protection act to strengthen the review authority of the financial stability oversight down soifl regulations issued by the bureau of consumer financial protection. the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. all points of order against

consideration of the bill are waived. general debate shall be confined to the bill and amendments specified in this section and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on financial services. after general debate, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. in lue of the amendment in the nature of a subs institute recommended by the committee on financial services now printed in the bill, it shall be in order to consider as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five-minute rule an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of the rules committee print dated july 14, 2011. that amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read. all points of order against that amendment in the nature of a substitute are waived. no amendment to that amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be in order except those printed in the report of the committee on rules. each amendment may be offered

only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the house or in the committee of the whole. all points of order against such amendments are waived. at the conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment, the committee shall rise and report the bill to the house with such amendments as may have been adopted. any member may demand a separate vote in the house on any amendment adopted in the committee of the whole to the bill or to the amendment in the nature of a substitute made in order as original text. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instructions.

section 2, in the engrossment of h.r. 1315, the clerk shall, a, add the text of h.r. 830 as passed by the house, as new matter at the end of h.r. 1315, b, conform the title of h r. 1315, to refleck the adist of -- addition of h.r. 1330 as passed by the house, c, sign appropriations to the divisions within engrossment and three conform provisions for short titles within the engrossment. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio rise? >> i rise to raise a point of order against h.r. 358 because it violates section 426-a of the congressional budget act, the resolution contains a waiver of all points of order against the bill which includes aware of the section 425 of the act which causes a violation of 426-a.

>> the gentlewoman from ohio makes a point of order that the resolution violates section 426-a of the congressional budget act of 1974. the gentlewoman has met the threshold under the rule and the gentleman -- the gentlewoman from ohio and a member opposed in this case the gentleman from texas, each will control 10 minutes of debate on the question of consideration. following the debate, the chair will put the question of consideration as the statutory means of disposing of the point of order. the chair now recognizes the gentlewoman from ohio. ms. fudge: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i raise this point of order not necessarily out of concern for unfunded mandates, although there are lakely some in the underlying bill, h.r. 1315, but because this bill would put consumers and the american economy at risk. a year ago today, president obama signed the dodd-frank wall street reform and consumer

protection act into law this law creates a strong consumer financial protection bureau, the cfpv, that will protect consumers, especially the poor and most vulnerable, from unscrupulous practices in the financial industry. the dodd-frank law levels the playing field. the cfpv has taken steps to protect americans against abuses from the financial industry like payday lenders and debt collectors that wrp unable to monitor before the passage of this oh law. i oppose the underlying bill because it removes these protections. this bill, h.r. 1315, is designed to cripple the cfpv before it's up and running. voters across party lines solidly support the wall street reform law. the american people want safeguards to help the economy, protect them from deceptive financial practices and predatory products. by trying to weaken the cfpv,

the republicans in congress just confirm how out of touch they are with the concerns of the american people. madam speaker, i yield three mins to the gentlelady from new york, yvette clarke. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for three minutes. ms. clarke: thank you, madam speaker. i thank my good friend ms. fudge for the time. madam speaker, the republican majority would like the american people to believe that a near financial collapse never happened, never occurred. . to har the majority's narrative you would think nothing is wrong with the economy that deregulation and tax cuts for multimillionaires and billionaires can't solve. what the republican majority refuses to acknowledge in their revisionist narrative is that the tax cuts for multimillionaires and billionaires help lead our country from surplus into massive deficits. the majority's revisionist narrative also omits the fact that years of deregulation and

lax oversight of financial institutions is what caused the economic downturn we are struggling to fully recover from. madam speaker, the near collapse of the national economy not only cost the american people billions of dollars in bailouts, but also resulted in millions of americans losing their jobs, their homes, and life savings through no fault of their own. the number one priority of the congress should be to continue the economic recovery work of the 111th congress. the american people expect the other side to work with the president and congressional democrats to put americans back to work. so i find it unbelievable, madam speaker, that in the face of a 9.2% unemployment and when millions of americans are struggling simply to stay in their homes, the majority would declare war on the very agency that would prevent a similar financial crisis from ever happening again. by decreasing accountability,

muddling decisionmaking, and starving it for funds, the republican majority is seeking to turn the consumer financial protection bureau into a grid lock agency that cannot possibly fulfill their mandate as a financial industry watchdog, leaving the american people once again vulnerable to predatory lending that precipitated the financial collapse in the first place. madam speaker, the 112th congress has been in session for over six months and we still have not had one comprehensive jobs bill, nor have we voted on one single bill that would help struggling homeowners stay in their homes. we have fortunately been forced to vote to protect tax cuts for multimillionaires and billionaires. we have voted to protect the profits of companies who ship jobs overseas, and we have voted on bills that undercut the social safety net for americans at a time where the most vulnerable amongst us need it the most. in other words, madam speaker,

we have wasted the american people's time. the republican majority claims to speak for the american people, perhaps they should listen to the american people and stop playing games and bring legislation to the floor that addresses the number one priority of american people, jobs. by bringing this bill to the floor, the republican majority either doesn't remember the recent financial crisis or simply doesn't care about the hardships of the american people. i thank my friend. i support the gentlewoman from ohio. ms. fudge: madam speaker, i yield three minutes to my friend and colleague from california, the gentlelady from california, ms. speier. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman california is recognized. ms. speier: thank you to my good friend, ms. fudge. this is getting old. the majority knows you can't kill an idea whose time has come so now they are trying to slow down the process, just like their friends in the banking industry who used stricks and traps to separate american families from their

hard-earned money. this bill has nothing more than an attempt to turn the cfpb into the septre for profits and big business. -- center for profits and big business. the consumer financial protection bureau will provide families a level playing field from which to shop for the full range of financial products. nothing gets banned. but now they'll have the tools to be better informed through the process. instead of mountains of mortgage documents, they'll get a simple to read one-page document that they can then use to answer the crucial question, is this something that i can afford? is this the best deal that i can get? the consumer financial protection bureau is the most accountable regulatory body in the world. in fact, it has a whole slew of regulators watching and questioning everything it does. it's required to undergo an annual g.a.o. report. it is going to have all enforcement actions subject to appeal, be regulated and turned by every agency on the financial stability oversight

council. simply put the cfpb helps families hold on to the money they might otherwise give to the banks. and the banks hate that. that's precisely why the majority has thrown this ridiculous bill together among other things this legislation would require those regulating predatory lenders to stop if their actions threaten the company's safety and soundness. in other words, their profits. we heard all about this issue when we banned unreasonable penalties on credit cards. at the time the credit card company said this would absolutely crush their model. well, look what's happened. are they still alive and well? you bet they are. but the truth is, this legislation isn't really about anything like that. no. this is about the only area where the majority has any kind of legislative record. legislative delay. the anti-consumer block in this congress is engaged in a legislative poncey scheme. they are helping -- ponzi scheme. they are helping wall street suck a few more dollars out of

american families before the inevitable happens. every day politicians can stall the opening of the bureau, that's more profits. today the cfpb is alife and i want every american -- alive and i want every american to look at this opportunity to call this number, this is a hotline available today for you to access if you've got problems with your credit card. you better act now because the majority wants to shut it down. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. ms. fudge: how much time do i have? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman has 2 1/2 minutes. ms. fudge: i yield to the gentlelady from new york, one minute and a half. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized for a minute and a half. mrs. maloney: i thank my colleagues for raising this issue. the consumer financial protection bureau is needed and the house republicans today have officially launched their

legislative effort to make sure that these protections will never have a chance to do the job of protecting our consumers and safeguarding the larger economy. it is as if our friends across the aisle are blind to the painful lessons of the great recession. it's the group that says, let's pretend the recession never happened. the republican strategy to defend, defuse, and delay the consumer protection -- defang, defuse, and delay the consumer protection agency, helped the financial meltdown. deceptive and misleading practice, predatory landing, unsafe credit standards, these practices they cost americans dearly. according to the federal reserve, between 2007 and the final quarter of 2009, united states household wealth fell by

$16.4 trillion of the net worth and that is terrible. that is a sum that would be more than enough to pay for the united states national debt. and if the cfpb had been in place in 2001, we might have avoided these painful, painful disruptive economic downturn that has hurt our overall economy, our standing in the world, and our consumers. we must let the cfpb go into effect to protect our economy and protect our consumers. i yield back to the gentlelady. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. fudge: thank you so very much. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from ohio has one minute remaining. ms. fudge: in closing this underlying bill, h.r. 1315, is trying to gut the reforms we fought for and won in the new wall street reform law. the cfpb is set to begin work today as the cop on the financial beat, protecting

american consumers and the economy from wall street greed. republicans want to delay, defund, and dismantlele the dodd-frank act. make no mistakes, republicans want to remove protections for consumers and investors. republicans want to return to a time where consumers, investors, and the entire financial system are at risk. i urge members to vote no on this question of consideration. i yield back, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yield back. the gentleman from texas. >> i rise to claim time in opposition. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 10 minutes. mr. sessions: thank you, madam speaker. the question before the house is, shall the house now consider h.res. 358? that's really the question here, madam speaker. while a resolution waives all points of order against consideration of the bill, the committee is not aware of any points of order. the waiver is simply made up in nature.

in fact, the congressional budget office has issued cost estimates for each of the three bills included in the rules committee print of h.r. 1315. the following statements were issued by the nonpartisan congressional budget office. and i quote, h.r. 1315 contains no intergovernmental or private sector mandates as defined in the unfunded mandates reform act, and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments. end of quote. h.r. 1121 contains no intergovernmental or private sector mandates as defined in the unfunded mandates reform act and would not affect the budgets of any state, local government. h.r. 1667 contains no intergovernmental or private sector mandates as defined in the unfunded mandates reform

act, and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments. madam speaker, these are the three sections of the bills which are contained within the rule. as we have stated, as a result of what has been defined, there are no mandates. there is nothing in this bill which would cause the point of order to stand. however, my friends on the other side of the aisle have also raised concern about the amount of debate time provided for in this rule. madam speaker, the rules committee takes great pride in its degree of openness and under the leadership of chairman david dreier and our speaker, john boehner, we have tried to accommodate this request. this rule contains -- continues the record of accomplishing, making in order 11 out of 14 amendments committed to the rules committee. of the three amendments not made in order, one was withdrawn by the sponsor, one was not germane to the bill, and one was duplicative of

another amendment submitted. so i would like to also note that for the record that the bill being considered today and every bill included in the rules committee print that went through this -- that is included in this rule went through regular order. the financial services committee held hearings, a subcommittee markup, and full committee markup of the bill. madam speaker, i see where my friends are trying to make a point of order that simply does not exist. in order to allow the house to continue its scheduled business for the day, i urge members to vote yes on the question of consideration of the resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. sessions: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house now consider the resolution. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the question of consideration is decided in the affirmative.

for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio rise? ms. fudge: madam speaker, i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]